Thursday, May 13, 2010

2 Wheels For Girls

Photographer Rides To Improve the Lives of Girls Everywhere

An American living in Shanghai asked us last year to hook her up with a Saga frame set. She was planning an audacious trek through China, Russia, and Mongolia. She set off May 1 and has over 1000km under her wheels. She is a talented photographer so we can't wait to see the pictures.

Armed with just a bike, a tent and a camera, American Eleanor Moseman is setting off on Saturday on a solo cycling odyssey from Shanghai to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and back again.

The trip will cover 15,000 to 20,000 kilometers and Moseman plans to return by mid-February, 2011.

Along the way, the freelance photographer plans to raise US$15,000 for women's education, and invites any woman interested to join her for a stretch anywhere on the journey.Setting off from Shanghai just as the World Expo 2010 opens, Moseman will cycle along the Grand Canal of China up to Tianjin, then through Jilin Province, cutting west to Inner Mongolia.

After exploring the whole of western Mongolia, she will ride on to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and its city of Kashgar, returning via Chengdu in Sichuan Province and Guilin in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The project has taken a year to plan and will raise funds for Girls Education International, which supports educational opportunities for women in developing countries, and for the charity Stepping Stones, which helps children of migrant workers' families in Shanghai.

"I've always been a girl to defy gender boundaries and roles," says Moseman, who is in her late 20s. "But in China so many (Chinese) female friends have told me that their parents discourage them from pursuing PhDs or masters' degrees because they think getting married is more important.

"While being a mother and wife is valuable, I think pursuing your dreams is also important - personally it makes me feel complete, and feel like I have just as much to bring to the table as men," she says.

The trip stems from Moseman's frustrations, as a freelance photographer, in traveling by train. In her previous China travels, there were many, many places where she wanted to stop and snap, but the train didn't stop - biking was the only way.

We invite you to read more about Eleanor and the charities she is raising funds for: